Subject: FW: Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for Thursday, June 14, 2018
From: "Kathy Chung" <[email-masked]>
To: "Ashley Blazer Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Hunter Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Jill Tracy Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Jimmy Biden" <[email-masked]>, "Valerie Biden Owens" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2018 09:01:35 -0400

Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing

*From:* Bulletin Intelligence <[email-masked]>
*Sent:* Thursday, June 14, 2018 7:52 AM
*To:* [email-masked]
*Subject:* Office of Vice President Biden Intelligence Briefing for
Thursday, June 14, 2018

*Click to access
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=000-18c&t=c>
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[image: Image removed by sender. Office of Vice President Biden
Intelligence Briefing]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=001-3ba&t=c>

*To: Vice President Joe Biden*

*Thursday, June 14, 2018 8:00 AM EDT*
Today's Table of Contents

*Biden in the News <#SECTION_1>*

• Biden Brings “American Promise Tour” To Charlotte. <#S1>

• Brower: Biden Talks Regularly With Pence, Steers Foreign Leaders To Him.
<#S2>

• Rob Reiner: Biden Could “Right The Ship” In 2020. <#S3>

• Trio Of Newark-Area High School Students Win Beau Biden Memorial
Scholarship. <#S4>

*Leading the News <#SECTION_2>*

• Trump: “There Is No Longer A Nuclear Threat From North Korea.” <#S5>

*Foreign Policy <#SECTION_3>*

• Trump’s North Korea Summit Raises Calls In Iran For Similar Talks. <#S6>

• Trump Says When He Left G7 Summit, It Wasn’t “Rocky,” It Was “Great.”
<#S7>

• Trump Criticizes OPEC Over High Oil Prices. <#S8>

• Saudi-Led Coalition Launches Offensive On Yemen’s Hodeida. <#S9>

• Green: Administration Committed To Assisting Iraq’s Persecuted Religious
Groups. <#S10>

• Kushner Will Travel To Israel, Egypt And Saudi Arabia Next Week. <#S11>

• US Sanctions High-Ranking Cambodian Official Accused Of Human Rights
Abuses. <#S12>

• White House Moves To Stop Congress From Overriding ZTE Settlement. <#S13>

*Domestic Policy <#SECTION_4>*

• Ryan: Trump Backs Compromise Immigration Bill That Includes His “Four
Pillars.” <#S14>

• Media Analyses: Midterm Primaries Showing GOP Has Become Party Of Trump.
<#S15>

• In Southern Baptist Convention Speech, Pence Touts Administration
Accomplishments. <#S16>

• ABC News: Cohen “Likely” To Cooperate With Federal Investigators. <#S17>

• Former Senate Staffer Wolfe Pleads Not Guilty To Lying To FBI In Leak
Probe. <#S18>

• Conservative Groups Seek Reversal Of Obama-Era School Discipline Policy.
<#S19>

• Sanders Takes Issue With Report That She’s Planning To Leave White House.
<#S20>

*Cancer Research <#SECTION_5>*

• New York Gives Providers $43.8M In Five-Year Grants For Free Cancer
Screenings. <#S21>

• NCI Appeals To Neuroscientists To Help Gain Better Understanding Of
“Chemobrain.” <#S22>

*Editorials/Op-Eds <#SECTION_6>*

• New York Times. <#S23>

• Washington Post. <#S24>
Biden in the News
Biden Brings “American Promise Tour” To Charlotte.

In a brief broadcast, WCCB-TV
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=002-fce&t=c>
Charlotte, NC (6/13) reported that former Vice President Joe Biden on
Wednesday visited “Charlotte as part of the ‘American Promise’ book tour.
Former Charlotte mayor and Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx joined
him at the Belk Theater,” where Biden “talked about his political career
and his memoir.” In another brief broadcast, Charlotte (NC) Spectrum
News[image:
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<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=003-9c4&t=c>
(6/13) reported Biden’s “tour is in support of his memoir, ‘Promise Me,
Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship and Purpose.’” WCNC-TV[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=004-122&t=c>
Charlotte, NC (6/13) reported that Biden spoke “about several big moments
of his political career, as well as personal challenges he’s faced,
including the death of his son, Beau.” In its brief broadcast story,
WBTV-TV[image:
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<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=005-7bc&t=c>
Charlotte, NC (6/13) reported, “Some say Biden is exploring a potential
presidential run in 2020.”

        The Charlotte (NC) Observer
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=006-1e2&t=c>
(6/14, Janes) reports that “as he makes these rounds in these cities on
this tour that ostensibly is about promoting” his book, a “question
persists: Will Biden run in 2020?” Biden “has not said a word one way or
the other. However, while addressing the idea of hope as his short visit to
Charlotte drew to a close on Wednesday night, he turned to the audience and
said 12 words that shifted the tone: ‘I’ve tried not to make this book tour
be about politics, but...’” Biden then went on to make “the case that
America doesn’t need to be made great again, because it’s already great.”
As Biden ended the event, there was “one giant question hanging in the
auditorium – and several stacks of books available for purchase out in the
lobby.”

        *Biden To Visit St Louis Today. *This morning, KTVI-TV[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=007-d95&t=c>
St. Louis (6/14) reports that Biden “is visiting St. Louis today as part of
his ‘American Promise Tour.’ Biden will be at the Peabody Opera House
tonight at 7:30 pm, where he’ll be discussing the big political moments of
his career, life-altering choices he made, and the traits that have helped
him persevere through challenges.”
Brower: Biden Talks Regularly With Pence, Steers Foreign Leaders To Him.

Kate Andersen Brower, author of “First in Line,” discussed her book during
a Wednesday appearance on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=008-113&t=c>
(6/13), saying, “I was really surprised that Joe Biden and Mike Pence are
talking at least once a month – that Biden is kind of acting as a conduit
for foreign leaders. He told me he speaks to about a dozen of them, who are
worried about Trump. And he puts them in touch with Pence and says, you
know, ‘Trump doesn’t have the bandwidth to deal with foreign affairs. So,
talk to Pence.’ And I think it’s unusual to see this level of outreach from
a vice president to former vice president. And you don’t see Trump doing
that with Obama.”
Rob Reiner: Biden Could “Right The Ship” In 2020.

In its “In The Know” blog, The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=009-36e&t=c>
(6/12, Kurtz) reported that director Rob Reiner said during an interview
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=00a-1f8&t=c>
this week that former Vice President Joe Biden “could ‘right the ship’ with
a 2020 White House bid.” Said Reiner, “I think the ship is foundering right
now and someone with his experience could come in and right the ship.” The
Hill added that Reiner also mentioned New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu (D)
and Sen. Kamala Harris (D) as possible 2020 Democratic hopefuls “he’d root
for.”
Trio Of Newark-Area High School Students Win Beau Biden Memorial
Scholarship.

The Newark (MD) Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=00b-8d8&t=c>
(6/14) reports, “Three Newark-area students recently won the Beau Biden
Memorial Scholarship from the I Could Do Great Things Foundation.” Delaney
Doran “received the Scholarship’s Gold Award of $10,000,” while Marigrace
Ferrill and Nicole Kennedy were “co-recipients of the Silver Award, each
receiving $5,000. All three will attend the University of Delaware this
fall. Named in honor of former Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, who
died in 2015 at age 46, the scholarship was established by the I Could Do
Great Things Foundation, an independent Delaware-based philanthropy. The
scholarship honors college-bound high school seniors from Delaware ‘who
embody the virtues of Beau Biden, who exhibited qualities of leadership,
community, civility, respect, and a strong moral compass.’”
Leading the News
Trump: “There Is No Longer A Nuclear Threat From North Korea.”

President Trump’s diplomatic efforts toward North Korea continue to receive
very skeptical media reviews, which take strong issue with his claims that
the summit produced tangible results toward denuclearization. The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=00c-24d&t=c>
(6/13, Flaherty, Lederman), for example, calls Trump’s claims “dubious,”
saying the summit “produced no guarantees on how or when Pyongyang would
disarm.” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=00d-03d&t=c>
(6/13, Wagner) reports Trump “amped up claims of a highly successful
summit” but “Democrats – and even some Republicans – grew increasingly
skeptical about what had been accomplished,” and CNN political analyst
Kirsten Powers said on CNN’s The Lead
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=00e-273&t=c>
(6/13), “It is hard to know what [Trump is] trying to do here. Because if
you look at it, it seems like he gave away a lot and didn’t really get
anything in return.”

        Trump tweeted
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=00f-04a&t=c>
yesterday that “everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took
office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea. Meeting with
Kim Jong Un was an interesting and very positive experience. North Korea
has great potential for the future!” Added
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=010-b64&t=c>
Trump, “Before taking office people were assuming that we were going to War
with North Korea. President Obama said that North Korea was our biggest and
most dangerous problem. No longer – sleep well tonight! ...
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=011-45d&t=c>
So funny to watch the Fake News, especially NBC and CNN. They are fighting
hard to downplay the deal with North Korea. 500 days ago they would have
‘begged’ for this deal-looked like war would break out. Our Country’s
biggest enemy is the Fake News so easily promulgated by fools!”

        CNN Senior Media Correspondent Brian Stelter said on CNN’s
Situation Room
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=012-de3&t=c>
(6/13), “It is no wonder why most Americans think this President is not fit
to serve. Tweets like this suggest he doesn’t know what has made America so
great for over 200 years. That is the check and balance system between the
executive and the judiciary and the press.” In his opening monologue on Fox
News’ Hannity
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=013-5c3&t=c>
(6/13), however, Sean Hannity said, “Your mainstream, corrupt media, the
destroy-Trump media has reached a new low. Despite so much success at home
on the economy and abroad, not including this week here in Singapore, the
President has been overwhelmingly portrayed negatively in the press.” And
now “the President is fighting back.”

        At any rate, media skepticism was widespread. The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=014-be2&t=c>
(6/13, Pennington, Lederman) says “Trump stretched credulity at home and
abroad” with his “chest-thumping tweet,” which “seemed reminiscent of the
‘Mission Accomplished’ banner flown behind President George W. Bush in 2003
when he spoke aboard a Navy ship following the US invasion of Iraq.” As
Kevin Corke put it on Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=015-05b&t=c>
(6/13), meanwhile, Trump “unleash[ed] a tweet storm of optimism,” but he
returned to Washington “amid strong headwinds of skepticism.” ABC World
News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=016-caf&t=c>
(6/13, story 2, 3:20, Muir) reported that Kim “still has his nukes,” and
“the joint statement he signed in Singapore did not indicate how and when
he would give them up. It also did not say that denuclearization would be
‘verifiable’ and ‘irreversible.’ ... Some saying the President gave a lot
more than he got.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=017-7c6&t=c>
(6/13, Baker, Sang-Hun) reports Trump “made his claims even though North
Korea has not given up any of its nuclear warheads or missiles, nor
dismantled any of its 141 known sites devoted to the production or use of
weapons of mass destruction other than blowing up a test site.” Asked
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, “What planet is the president on?”
The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=018-db7&t=c>
(6/13, Warrick) remarks on the “hundreds” of facilities “that exist across
a North Korean weapons complex that has shown itself capable not only of
making sophisticated nuclear and chemical weapons, but also of expertly
hiding them from public view.” That is “why weapons experts around the
world expressed astonishment Wednesday at...Trump’s claim.”

        Later yesterday, Trump sat down for an interview with Fox News’
Special Report’s Bret Baier, who told him the North has agreed to things
before and gone back on their word, to which Trump responded[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=019-e88&t=c>,
“That’s with a different president. And nobody has taken it this far, and
presidents have never met with anybody from North Korea. It’s been
delegated to other people. ... This is something that should have been done
years ago” before the North had its nuclear weapons. Trump later said[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=01a-f4f&t=c>
he is “totally confident” that a verification system will be set up to
ensure the North gets rid of its nuclear weapons – “and if we can’t, we
can’t have a deal. It has to be verified.” Baier asked Trump why he thinks
Kim “raced to complete his nuclear program and then decided to give it up.”
Trump responded, “I think psychologically he felt it was important and I
understand that.”

        Asked if he thinks China thinks they got what they want out of the
summit, Trump replied
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=01b-708&t=c>,
“I think China would really like to see no nuclear weapons” in the region.
He added, “Whether you are semi-friendly with a nation or not, when they
have nuclear weapons, it can’t be a positive feeling, it just can’t be.” He
added that China has been “very helpful.”

        Trump was also asked
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=01c-48a&t=c>
about human rights and how “you call this relationship really good and that
[Kim] was a very talented person,” even though “he’s executing people.”
Trump said that “when you take over a...tough country...I don’t care who
you are” or “how much of an advantage you have. If you can do that at 27
years old, that’s one in 10,000 that can do that. So he’s a very smart guy.
He’s a great negotiator.” When Baier replied that Kim has “still done some
really bad things,” Trump said back: “But so have a lot of other people
done some really bad things.”

        Sen. James Lankford said CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=01d-191&t=c>
(6/13), “I think the President is being optimistic and it is just his
nature that he walks in with a negotiation and expect everyone will live up
to their part of the deal,” but added, “if they change he responds rapidly
to say you broke the deal and flips everything back over. So my assumption
is the President is being consistent and that he will assume Kim Jong-un
will keep up his part of the deal. If he doesn’t, then we certainly will
respond to that.” Lankford also said, “We’ve seen words and words are a
good first step but that is by far not the last step.”

        Fox News national security strategist Sebastian Gorka said on Fox
News’ Hannity
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=01e-097&t=c>
(6/13), “Donald Trump could not have achieved more than 24 hours, 25 hours
he was awake. What more could he have achieved? At the end of the day, he
is solving the problems other people left for him. This isn’t just about
the Obama Administration. This is about the last 25 years, from Bill
Clinton onwards, the situation in this part of the world on the peninsula
was getting worse and worse by the year. The nuclear capability, detonating
nuclear warheads, launching ballistic missiles over the sea of Japan with a
range of more than 2,000 miles. Those are not problems created by the Trump
Administration. But guess was trying to solve it? Donald Trump. It’s just
facts.”

        A Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=01f-660&t=c>
(6/13) editorial says many of Trump’s “false statements regarding North
Korea and his summit meeting with” Kim “may be harmless,” and some are even
“justifiable in the context of a nascent diplomatic process.” His remark
that North Korea “does love him,” however, “is obtuse, offensive and
harmful,” according to the Post, which explains, “No one in North Korea may
criticize Mr. Kim and expect to survive.” The Post concludes in writing
that the thousands of people who have “looked to America and its democratic
allies to stand for their dignity and freedom as human beings will feel a
bit less hopeful about their future. They will feel betrayed. They will be
right to feel that way.”

        Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=020-195&t=c>
(6/13) columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. also rejects the “deeply flawed but
predictable arguments that have been offered in defense of Trump’s lovefest
with North Korea’s brutal dictator and the president’s approach to
negotiation.” Specifically, Dionne writes, Trump touted a “flimsy piece of
paper” that “guaranteed absolutely nothing and contained far weaker
promises than those wrung out of North Korea by earlier administrations –
promises, by the way, that the ‘very honorable’ regime broke.”
Additionally, Dionne says, “Trump did not simply overlook the astonishing
brutality of North Korea’s regime” – he “heaped praise on Kim.” Finally,
Dionne writes, Trump “made real concessions to North Korea – beginning with
the legitimacy that the Singapore extravaganza conferred on Kim and Trump’s
decision to call off joint military exercises with South Korea – without
winning anything concrete in return.”

        *Poll: “Just Over Half Of All Americans,” 30% Of Democrats Approve
Of Trump On North Korea. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=021-c48&t=c>
(6/13, Milliken) reports that according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, “just
over half of all Americans” approve of how Trump “has handled North Korea,
but only a quarter think that his summit...will lead to the
denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.” According to Reuters,
“Thirty-nine percent believe the summit has lowered the threat of nuclear
war between the United States and nuclear-armed North Korea, slightly more
than the 37 percent who said they did not believe it changed anything.”
Reuters notes that although on 12% of Democrats approve of Trump’s job
performance, “about 30 percent said they approved of his handling of North
Korea.”.

        *Pompeo Calls Media Query “Insulting And Ridiculous And Frankly
Ludicrous.” *In its lead story, the CBS Evening News[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=022-777&t=c>
(6/13, lead story, 2:40, Dickerson) reported that when asked why the words
“verifiable and irreversible” weren’t included in the agreement Trump and
Kim signed, Secretary of State Pompeo “told reporters...’I find that
question insulting and ridiculous and, frankly, ludicrous,’ arguing they
are ‘implied.’” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=023-3b9&t=c>
(6/13, DeYoung) notes that when “asked specifically about verification of
Pyongyang’s denuclearization and whether it will be irreversible...Pompeo
said: ‘The modalities are beginning to develop. There will be a great deal
of work to do. There’s a long way to go. There’s much to think about. ...
But don’t say silly things. No, don’t. It’s not productive.’”

        *Pompeo Hits Back At Framework Critics, Says “Major Disarmament”
Achievable By 2021. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=024-ba9&t=c>
(6/13, Brunnstrom) reports that Pompeo also said the US “hopes to achieve
‘major disarmament’ by North Korea within the next 2-1/2 years.” Speaking
to reporters in Seoul, Pompeo “was asked if he would like to accomplish
major nuclear disarmament within Trump’s current term.” Pompeo answered,
“Oh yes, most definitively. Absolutely ... you used the term ‘major,’
‘major disarmament,’ something like that? We’re hopeful that we can achieve
that in the 2-1/2 years.” According to Reuters, Pompeo “bristled at a
question about why the words ‘verifiable’ and ‘irreversible’ were not in
the summit joint statement, in the context of denuclearization.” Pompeo is
quoted as saying, “It’s in the statement. You’re just wrong about that...
Because complete encompasses verifiable and irreversible. I suppose you
could argue semantics, but let me assure you that it’s in the document.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=025-b02&t=c>
(6/13) reports that Pompeo also said that he is “confident that US talks
with North Korea will resume ‘sometime in the next week.’” The Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=026-4f5&t=c>
(6/13, DeYoung) notes that asked “specifically about verification of
Pyongyang’s denuclearization and whether it will be irreversible,” Pompeo
said, “The modalities are beginning to develop. There will be a great deal
of work to do. There’s a long way to go. There’s much to think about.” The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=027-64e&t=c>
(6/13, Gordon, Nasaw) says Pompeo said North Korea vowed to work toward
“complete denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula,’ adding, “Let me
assure you that ‘complete’ encompasses verifiable in the minds of everyone
concerned. One can’t completely denuclearize without validating,
authenticating – you pick the word.”

        The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=028-c5d&t=c>
(6/13, Manchester), Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=029-1e8&t=c>
(6/13, Taylor), Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=02a-2ca&t=c>
(6/13, Nelson), New York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=02b-a3c&t=c>
(6/13, Moore), and Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=02c-27b&t=c>
(6/13, Pavlich), among other news outlets, also note Pompeo’s comments.

        *Graham: “If My Democratic Friends Get Behind” Trump, “We May
Actually Get A Peace Deal.” *Responding to Pompeo’s statement in Seoul,
Sen. Lindsey Graham said on Fox News The Ingraham Angle[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=02d-fec&t=c>
(6/13), “A very important statement that South Korea, Japan, and the United
States through the summit went well and are together behind...Trump. Now if
my Democratic friends get behind...Trump, we may actually get a peace
deal.”

        Rep. Eric Swalwell said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=02e-77e&t=c>
(6/13) that he hopes the summit “produces denuclearization, but” he also
hopes it’s not just the US “giving up our security presence in the region
and getting nothing in return.” Swalwell added that Pyongyang “has a long
record of deceiving US officials when it comes to denuclearizing.” He
argued that Trump is “giving too much credibility to a ruthless dictator
who needs to be confronted with a forceful leader who is willing to help
them rejoin the table of nations, but not somebody who’s his new pal.”

        Sen. James Lankford said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=02f-a7a&t=c>
(6/13) that, as Trump has done with “trade or other things,” he seems to
walk into a negotiation “optimistic and assumes everyone keeps their word.
And if they change he responds rapidly to say you broke the deal and flips
everything back over.” When asked if he thinks the North’s nuclear threat
is over, Lankford said, “I don’t...because we’ve not seen denuclearization
or dismantlement of weapons or a change in posture. we’ve seen words and
words are a good first step but that is by far not the last step.” When
asked whether there’s a “system” to verify denuclearization, Lankford
replied, “We know how to do that. We worked with Iran...with the JCPOA and
with other countries, and we know how to do verification.” Meanwhile,
Lankford said it’s “reasonable” for the US to delay military exercises with
South Korea.

        *Japan Working To Arrange Abe-Kim Summit. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=030-8fe&t=c>
(6/13) reports “Japan is working on arranging a meeting between Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe and...Kim,” with “one possibility including the
premier’s visit to Pyongyang around August, the Yomiuri newspaper reported
on Thursday.” Reuters adds that “citing multiple government sources, the
paper said officials from the two countries had been in contact several
times in recent months to negotiate a possible meeting between the two
leaders.”

        *NYTimes: Allies Worry Trump Signaling US Pullback From
Asia-Pacific. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=031-742&t=c>
(6/13, Rich) reports that the Trump-Kim summit left US allies in the region
“with new anxieties.” Trump’s “concessions to North Korea exacerbated their
fears about the United States’ long-term commitment to safeguarding the
region.” Trump suspension of military exercises with South Korea and his
hope to remove the 28,000 US troops “blindsided American allies, including
South Korea itself. It also raised questions about whether Mr. Trump’s
outreach to the North actually signaled a broader American retreat from the
region.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=032-ebd&t=c>
(6/13, Wong, Bodeen) reports that Ryan Hass, who directed China policy for
the National Security Council under President Obama, says China “wants to
see a reduction in foreign military forces in Northeast Asia and for the
gap between Washington and its allies and partners to widen.” Hass said,
“Beijing is now on track to achieve these objectives at little cost.”

        *Kim Praises Trump As North Korean Media Claims US Made Major
Concessions. *The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=033-470&t=c>
(6/13, Boyer) reports that Kim “is praising...Trump’s ‘realistic’ approach
to negotiations with Pyongyang, North Korea’s leading state-run newspaper
reported Wednesday after the landmark summit between the two leaders.” The
newspaper Rodong Sinmun said “Kim ‘highly praised the president’s will and
enthusiasm to resolve matters in a realistic way through dialogue and
negotiations, away from the hostility-woven past.’”

        USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=034-efe&t=c>
(6/13, Maresca) reports, meanwhile, that the Korean Central News Agency’s
coverage “underscor[ed] the meeting’s propaganda value for a regime long
isolated from the international community.” ABC World News Tonight[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=035-88b&t=c>
(6/13, story 2, 3:20, Muir) noted Pompeo’s comments on disarmament and the
wording of the agreement, but reported that “just as the President was
declaring victory, so, too, was North Korea.” Brian Todd reported on CNN’s
Situation Room
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=036-07b&t=c>
(6/13) that North Korean state media is proclaiming Kim’s summit “a
resounding success.” The North’s official wire service cast it as “a huge
win for Kim that...Trump has agreed to end the military exercises with
South Korea,” and “even spun the summit to say that...Trump expressed his
intent to lift sanctions against Kim’s regime. The President and his team
actually say sanctions will remain in place for now.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=037-130&t=c>
(6/13, Choe) reports that North Korea “wasted no time on Wednesday spinning
the results in its favor, claiming it had won major concessions” from the
US. State media said Trump “promised to eventually lift sanctions against
the North and to end joint military drills with South Korea. It also said
the United States had agreed to a phased, ‘step-by-step’ denuclearization
process for the North, rather than the immediate dismantling of its nuclear
capability.” The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=038-70a&t=c>
(6/12, Cheng), Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=039-807&t=c>
(6/12, Kim), and Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=03a-c0b&t=c>
(6/13, Murphy), among other news outlets, run similar stories this morning.

        *Body Language Expert Says Trump Dominated Kim At Summit. *The Daily
Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=03b-298&t=c>
(6/13, Athey) reports “body language expert” Chris Ulrich “appeared on CNN
Wednesday” and “said that President Donald Trump clearly dominated North
Korea’s Kim Jong Un during their historic summit.” He “noted that Kim Jong
Un had the upper hand in the first photo-op with Trump because he was
standing on the left side of the photo, but added that Trump put his hand
on Kim Jong Un’s upper arm during their hand shake as a way of
‘reestablishing dominance.’” Ulrich said Trump then “does something very
interesting,” when he “pats [Kim Jong Un] on the back and guides him out –
again, he’s establishing dominance.”

        *Norwegian Lawmakers Nominate Trump For Nobel Peace Prize. *The New
York Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=03c-86c&t=c>
(6/13, Moore) reports Christian Tybring-Gjedde and Per-Willy Amundsen, two
Norwegian lawmakers and members of the Progress Party, nominated Trump for
the Nobel Peace Prize. The two lawmakers said Trump has “taken a huge and
important step in the direction of the disarmament, peace and
reconciliation between North and South Korea,” according to Norway’s NTB
news agency.

        *French Foreign Minister: Trump “Practically Hugged” Kim. *The
Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=03d-ad9&t=c>
(6/13, Taylor) reports that French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told
a television station that while the meeting “was ‘an undoubted step
forward,’ he was concerned about the erratic nature of U.S. foreign
policy.” Le Drian said, “In the space of just a day you see President Trump
attacking [Canadian Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau, who is a historic ally,
and you see President Trump breaking with his collective allies after the
G-7 meeting in Quebec, and the next day practically hugged a dictator born
into a communist dictatorship, which just a few days ago he said he was
completely opposed to.”

        *CNN’s Acosta Defends Questioning At Singapore Summit. *The Daily
Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=03e-90a&t=c>
(6/13, Athey) reports that on Wednesday, CNN chief White House
correspondent Jim Acosta defended “his decision to shout questions at Kim
Jong Un during this week’s historic summit between the U.S. and North Korea
in Singapore.” The CNN correspondent “faced near-universal backlash after
shouting questions at President Trump and Kim Jong Un while the two leaders
were walking past reporters, and then again when they were signing an
agreement at the end of the summit,” when he “repeatedly asked Kim Jong Un
if he was going to give up his nuclear weapons to strike a deal with
Trump.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=03f-f80&t=c>
(6/13, Chasmar) reports that “Acosta, who already has a strained
relationship with the Trump White House, was ripped as ‘annoying’ and
‘attention-seeking’ by conservatives after he was heard repeatedly
questioning the two leaders as they signed a joint agreement to broker
peace on the Korean peninsula.” After Trump’s 2020 campaign manager, Brad
Parscale, “renewed his call for Mr. Acosta’s press credentials to be
revoked over the exchange,” Acosta “fired back” on Twitter, “saying taking
away his press credentials would be behavior suited for a dictator.” Acosta
“also defended himself on ‘New Day,’ telling his CNN colleagues that the
summit was a “golden opportunity” to ask Mr. Kim directly whether he
planned to give up his nukes.” Acosta asserted, “There’s a dictator in
front of you who has nuclear weapons – why on earth wouldn’t you ask that
question?”
Foreign Policy
Trump’s North Korea Summit Raises Calls In Iran For Similar Talks.

In an analysis, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=040-2d7&t=c>
(6/13, Erdbrink) says in the wake of President Trump’s summit with North
Korean leader Kim Jong-un, many Iranians are suggesting “that perhaps
Iran’s leaders should make a move similar to Mr. Kim’s and propose a
meeting.” Trump has said he is open to “direct talks with Iran’s leaders to
renegotiate the Iran deal,” but “Iran’s leaders are ideologically opposed
to talking to the United States.” Furthermore, the Times says, “President
Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement vindicated the
America-hating hard-liners in Iran,” who “now say that the decision to
enter into direct talks with the Obama administration, under the umbrella
of the nuclear negotiations, has brought only pain.” Nonetheless, “it is
that pain – of a faltering economy, rising prices and the restoration of
old sanctions – that is causing some Iranians to say there is no other way
out of the decades of tensions with Washington but through direct talks.”

        *Khalilzad: Trump Administration Signaling Openness To Negotiations
With Iran. *In a Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=041-b97&t=c>
(6/13) op-ed, former US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad says the
Trump Administration’s approach to Iran “has a reasonable chance of
succeeding,” because it has “indicated a willingness to enter into
negotiations, even as it escalates pressure against Iran through sanctions.
And a policy of maximum pressure, followed by negotiation and deal-making,
means that a comprehensive agreement between the two countries is not out
of the question.” Khalilzad notes that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has
“invited Iran to ‘look at our diplomacy with North Korea’ as evidence of
the administration’s willingness to engage adversaries in negotiations on
very complex issues.”

        *Iran Arrests Human Rights Lawyer. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=042-742&t=c>
(6/13, Dehghanpisheh) reports Iranian security forces “arrested prominent
human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh on Wednesday, her husband said in a
Facebook post.” Reza Khandan said in the post, “A few hours ago Nasrin was
arrested at home and sent to the court at Evin. I once told investigators
in the investigation room: ‘Of all the things that a government must do for
its country, you only know one, arresting people.’” The story notes that
Sotoudeh “recently represented a number of women who have removed their
headscarves, or hijab, in public to protest against Iran’s mandatory dress
code for women, according to the Center for Human Rights in Iran, a New
York-based advocacy group.”

        *Austria’s Oberbank To Withdraw From Iran Over Threat Of US
Sanctions. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=043-604&t=c>
(6/13, Knolle, Schwarz-Goerlich) reports Austria’s Oberbank announced today
that it will “withdraw from Iran because of increased risk for European
companies in light of potential U.S. sanctions.” Oberbank had “signed a
deal with Iran” to “finance new ventures there,” but the “outlook has
changed” since President Trump withdrew from the P5+1 nuclear deal.
Trump Says When He Left G7 Summit, It Wasn’t “Rocky,” It Was “Great.”

President Trump was asked in an interview on Fox News’ Special Report[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=044-8c5&t=c>
(6/13) about the G7 summit getting “a little rocky,” with Fox showing a
reporter at an earlier press conference asking Trump about him “having
determined that [Canadian] Prime Minster Justin Trudeau is ‘weak and
dishonest.’” When Fox cut back to its interview, Trump was shown saying,
“It really wasn’t rocky when I left, it was great. In fact I just spoke to
[Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe recently, I just told him about what
happened, and he said it’s amazing because when you left, it was, like,
fine.” Trump continued: “I negotiated a different kind of deal than they
wanted, but I was okay with it. And then I saw what took place at this news
conference and I said that is not what really happened.”

        *Trump Explains Why He Wants To Reverse Booting Russia From G8. *Trump
also discussed
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=045-eb9&t=c>
(6/13) his comment about allowing Russia back in to make it the G8 again.
He said, “We spend probably 25% of our time talking about Russia,” so
“wouldn’t it be better if they were here?” Trump continued: “If Vladimir
Putin were sitting next to me today instead of one of the others...I could
say, ‘Would you do me a favor? Would you get out of Syria? ... Would you
get out of Ukraine?’ ... I think I would probably have a good relationship
with him or I would be able to talk to him better than if you call somebody
on the telephone.” Trump added that he’s “not sticking up for anybody, I’m
just saying he didn’t respect or leadership. ... Look what he did to Obama
with Crimea. ... He took Ukraine.” Baier then said that was why Russia was
kicked out of the G8. Trump replied, “But he didn’t respect our leadership”
back then.

        *German FM Says Trump Has Created “Worldwide Vacuum.” *Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=046-49f&t=c>
(6/13, Jennen, Delfs, Donahue) reports that on Wednesday, “German Foreign
Minister Heiko Maas called on the European Union to unite and fill the void
left by the U.S. drawback from global agreements that have underpinned
trans-Atlantic relations for decades.” The German diplomat asserted, “The
Atlantic has gotten wider under President Trump,” whose “isolationist
policy has opened a huge worldwide vacuum. Therefore our common response
today to ‘America First’ must be ‘Europe United.”’ Bloomberg says “Maas’s
warning that the post-World War II order ‘no longer exists’ signals that
Germany is starting to confront a president who seems to delight in
challenging allies on issues from security to exports.” Also on Wednesday,
“German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, a close ally of [German Chancellor
Angela] Merkel, vowed to defend the country’s steel industry against the
effects of U.S. tariffs.”

        *Former Ambassador McFaul Says Trump’s Russia Policy “Is Pretty
Good.” *Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=047-061&t=c>
(6/13, Benson) political editor Guy Benson summarizes his interview with
Amb. Michael McFaul, the US Ambassador to Russia under former President
Obama, “about his new book, which details his views on Vladimir Putin – a
man he’s known and studied in various capacities since 1991.” Benson says
in a discussion on “President Trump’s almost pathological aversion to
criticizing Putin,” he “pressed McFaul on whether Trump’s words matter more
than his administration’s actions.” McFaul responded: “I actually think the
Trump administration’s policy towards Russia is pretty good. I support
it...Actions are more important than the words. That’s true. But, the
rhetoric gets in way of other policies.” Benson says he “agree[s] with
McFaul: While the words can be confounding and maddening and
counterproductive, the actual policies being carried out under Trump’s
auspices ought to count for a lot more than many critics are willing to
admit.”

        *Mattis Defends Addition Of Low-Yield Nuclear Warheads To US
Arsenal. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=048-f66&t=c>
(6/13, Sonne) reports that the “House and Senate versions of the annual
defense policy bill authorize $65 million to convert some of the high-yield
W76-1 nuclear warheads deployed on Ohio-class submarines into the
smaller-yield variants known as W76-2 warheads.” The Administration
“believes the W76-2 would convince Russia that any such attempt would
result in a reciprocal low-yield nuclear attack,” but the proposal
triggered “an outcry from anti-nuclear advocates and attempts by Democratic
lawmakers to defund or limit their introduction.” In what the Post calls
“his most detailed justification of the new low-yield W76-2 warhead” yet,
Defense Secretary “Mattis said in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.) that Russia had increased the number and diversity of its
nuclear weapons and issued veiled nuclear threats to U.S. allies.” Mattis
stressed that President Trump “has said that nuclear weapons would be
employed only in extreme circumstances to protect our vital interests and
those of our allies and partners.”
Trump Criticizes OPEC Over High Oil Prices.

President Trump took to Twitter
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=049-795&t=c>
yesterday to write, “Oil prices are too high, OPEC is at it again. Not
good!” The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=04a-965&t=c>
(6/13, Wagner) notes the tweet “comes in advance of a meeting of the
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia planned for
June 22 in Vienna to discuss easing supply caps that have been in place
since the beginning of 2017.” The Post notes that “in April, Trump also
blasted OPEC on Twitter, accusing the group of ‘artificially’ raising oil
prices.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=04b-9f9&t=c>
(6/13, Nelson) indicates “oil prices have risen roughly 60 percent over the
past year, according to a Reuters report, thanks in part to a move by OPEC
and other oil producers, including Russia, to reduce output.” However, “the
International Energy Agency said on Wednesday that it believes oil prices
are unlikely to rise as sharply as they have in recent months.”

        *Iranian Official: US Sanctions To Blame For Rising Price Of Oil. *
Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=04c-d90&t=c>
(6/13, Heavey) reports that Trump and the Iranian government “exchanged
sharp words over oil prices,” with Tehran “accusing him of stoking
volatility after he withdrew last month from a global nuclear arms deal
with Iran.” Iran’s OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, said, “You
cannot place sanctions on two OPEC founder members and still blame OPEC for
oil price volatility. ... This is business, Mr. President – we thought you
knew it.” Ardebili was referring to US sanctions on Iran and Venezuela.

        *US, Saudi Arabia, Russia All Seeking Increased Oil Production. *The
New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=04d-273&t=c>
(6/13, Krauss) reports on the “unusual” situation of the United States,
Saudi Arabia, and Russia apparently trying “to achieve common energy policy
goals,” which “is taking the edge off the yearlong rise in oil and gasoline
prices” reducing the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’
influence. “Rarely – if ever – has” US efforts to reduce oil prices “been
so blunt and public” as President Trump’s criticism of OPEC on Twitter. Yet
“two of the biggest players in the global oil market – Saudi Arabia and
Russia – appear to have already calculated that it is in their immediate
interest to crank up production.” However, “oil price relief could be
modest and short-lived,” especially as Trump “is pursuing several policy
goals that cut against each other.,” such as seeking “to squeeze Iran and
Venezuela with sanctions, which would inevitably lower the amount of oil on
the world market.”
Saudi-Led Coalition Launches Offensive On Yemen’s Hodeida.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=04e-54b&t=c>
(6/13, Fahim, Ryan) reports the Saudi-led coalition and its allies
“launched a long-anticipated offensive” against the Iranian-backed Houthi
rebels “on the Yemeni port city of Hodeida early Wednesday, opening a new
front in the country’s intractable civil conflict.” Aid agencies maintain
the offensive will “almost certainly deepen” the humanitarian crisis “at a
time when a third of Yemen’s citizens are on the brink of famine.” The
Administration “had asked the Emirates to hold off on beginning an
operation until after UN envoy Martin Griffiths presented a new plan for
jump-starting peace talks,” but when “it became clear the Emirates would
not hold back its allied Yemeni forces, US officials said they were focused
instead on trying to ensure that the operation did not damage key
infrastructure” or target civilian sites. In a letter to Secretary of State
Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mattis, a bipartisan group of senators
expressed their “grave alarm” over what they deemed “unacceptable
consequences.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=04f-dca&t=c>
(6/13, Gambrell) reports the Saudi-led operation is “the biggest offensive
of the years-long war in the Arab world’s poorest nation for the main entry
point for food in a country already teetering on the brink of famine.”
According to the AP, the “attack on the Red Sea port aims to drive out
Iranian-aligned Shiite rebels known as Houthis,” but “the fear is that a
protracted fight could force a shutdown of Hodeida’s port at a time when a
halt in aid risks tipping millions into starvation.” The AP says “some 70
percent of Yemen’s food enters via the port, as well as the bulk of
humanitarian aid and fuel supplies.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=050-70a&t=c>
(6/13, Coker, Schmitt) also says the attack is “threatening to worsen what
is already the world’s most severe humanitarian disaster by disrupting the
pipeline that millions of Yemenis rely on for food and other supplies.” The
Times says the US estimates that “eight million of Yemen’s estimated 28
million people are at risk of starvation,” while “about a quarter of a
million people in Hudaydah, a city of 600,000, are in danger of injury or
death in an urban assault.”

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=051-4d5&t=c>
(6/13) editorializes that “the United Nations and every major humanitarian
agency have warned of dire consequences for the 22 million Yemenis who
already depend on outside assistance, including 8 million on the brink of
famine,” but the offensive “nevertheless went ahead early Wednesday after
receiving what amounted to passive assent from the Trump administration.”
To the Post, this means the US “will be complicit if the result is what aid
officials say it could be: starvation, epidemics and other human suffering
surpassing anything the world has seen in decades.” The Post argues that
the Administration “could have prevented the assault on Hodeida; instead,
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo equivocated, thereby allowing it to go
forward.” The Post urges Congress to halt US “support for the intervention”
and suspend “further arms sales” until “humanitarian assistance flows
freely and peace talks are underway.”

        A New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=052-e08&t=c>
(6/12) editorial similarly accuses President Trump of emboldening “Saudi
and emirati leaders,” arguing that because Trump shares “their antipathy
for Iran,” he “will sell them virtually any weapon they want.” The Times
also blames the Administration for supplying the Saudi-led coalition with
“intelligence, refueling capabilities and other assistance,” and for
sending “mixed signals.” The Times urges the Administration to “speak with
one voice to its Arab allies, making clear that an attack” on the port
“would be a disaster and that even considering such action reveals how
futile their policy in Yemen has been.” To the Times, “[w]orking with the
Houthis and the United Nations on a cease-fire and a deal for neutral
control of the port could be the first step to a political settlement that
is the only hope for peace.”
Green: Administration Committed To Assisting Iraq’s Persecuted Religious
Groups.

In a Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=053-d46&t=c>
(6/13, Green) op-ed, USAID Administrator Mark Green outlines his agency’s
efforts to develop aid projects and deliver assistance to Iraq’s minority
groups, including Christians and Yazidis, and adds that he will present to
President Trump a comprehensive assessment of challenges that have
prevented the expedient delivery of such aid. Green stresses the need to
act now on behalf of the Middle East’s persecuted religious communities,
and reiterates the Administration’s commitment to tirelessly addressing any
barriers that stand in the way of working on behalf of these communities.

        *Turkey, Iran Discussing Possible Anti-PKK Operation In Northern
Iraq. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=054-2d2&t=c>
(6/13, Erkoyun) reports Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said
Ankara is “in contact with Iran about conducting a possible military
operation against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants in the northern
Iraq region of Qandil, close to the Iranian border.” Cavusoglu said, “We
are in contact with Iran. PKK is a threat to them as well. Qandil is very
close to the Iran border...We will improve cooperation with Iran.”
Kushner Will Travel To Israel, Egypt And Saudi Arabia Next Week.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=055-c26&t=c>
(6/13, Lee) reports that the National Security Council announced today that
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and special representative for
international negotiations Jason Greenblatt will travel to Israel, Egypt
and Saudi Arabia next week as the White House “finalizes its as-yet
unveiled Israeli-Palestinian peace plan.” According to the AP, “officials
say the Trump administration is near completion of the plan with an eye on
a possible release this summer.” The AP notes that the duo will not visit
any Palestinian-controlled territory.

        Barak Ravid Of Israel’s Channel 10 News says in a piece for Axios
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=056-760&t=c>
(6/13) that “Palestinian President Abbas’ aides have said the U.S. peace
plan will be ‘dead on arrival’ and claimed the U.S. team has essentially
been carrying Netanyahu’s water for the last year and a half.” The US, for
its part, “has been trying to pass messages to the Palestinians in public
and in private through several Arab countries, asking them not to reject
the peace plan out of hand.” Ravid explains that “the White House believes
there might be a chance to renew contacts with the Palestinians after the
plan is launched and as Arab and Western countries see what’s in it and
urge them to engage.”

        *General Assembly Accuses Israel Of Using Excessive Force Against
Gaza Protesters. *On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly
“overwhelmingly passed a resolution that basically blamed the Israelis for
the casualties in 10 weeks of clashes,” reports the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=057-909&t=c>
(6/13, Gladstone). The resolution “deplored ‘excessive use of force’ by
Israel” and “requested recommendations to protect Palestinians,” but “did
not explicitly criticize Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza,
which Israel and the United States have accused of instigating the
clashes.” The US and Israel “voted against the resolution,” calling “it
blatantly one-sided and unhelpful.” Ambassador Haley said in remarks before
the vote, “The nature of this resolution clearly demonstrates that politics
is driving the day.” She added, “Such one-sided resolutions at the U.N. do
nothing to advance peace between Israel and Palestinians.”

        *West Bank Palestinians Protest Abbas’ Sanctions On Gaza Strip. *
Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=058-bcd&t=c>
(6/13, Sawafta) reports that on Wednesday, security forces loyal to
Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas “used tear gar and batons”
against hundreds of Palestinians protesting “in the West Bank city of
Ramallah” to demand that Abbas “end financial sanctions on their fellow
Palestinians in Gaza.” The Western-backed Palestinian Authority “has sought
to use financial measures to isolate its chief rival Hamas, the Islamist
movement which controls Gaza,” but Palestinian activists argue “that
ordinary Gazans have been caught up in the power struggle between Fatah and
Hamas.” The activists “have held rallies in the West Bank demanding that
Abbas restart the full payment of government salaries and services in
Gaza,” prompting Abbas’ government to ban “such rallies earlier in the
day.”
US Sanctions High-Ranking Cambodian Official Accused Of Human Rights Abuses.

The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=059-646&t=c>
(6/13, Mahtani) reports the Treasury Department “announced Tuesday that it
will sanction Hing Bun Hieng,” the commander of Cambodian Prime Minister
Hun Sen’s “bodyguard unit, for carrying out ‘serious acts of human rights
abuse against the people of Cambodia.’” The Post says “Cambodia’s democracy
has been in increasing trouble in recent months,” and Tuesday’s move
signals “that the U.S. government is paying attention” to Hun Sen’s
dissolution of Cambodia’s main opposition party and crackdown on
independent media. Hun Sen’s “government was quick to criticize the
sanctions,” and the Post says it “is likely to cite the sanctions as
further evidence of U.S. bias against his government.”
White House Moves To Stop Congress From Overriding ZTE Settlement.

The Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=05a-cae&t=c>
(6/13, Bender, Hughes) reports that the White House will move to try to
block Congressional efforts to undo a Trump-brokered agreement on Chinese
telecom giant ZTE. According to Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=05b-3a1&t=c>
(6/13), the Administration “wants to change legislative language in a
defense spending bill before the Senate, but will intervene later in the
legislative process.” The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=05c-ef5&t=c>
(6/13, Rappeport, Tejada) reports that members of Congress “have been
working to attach legislation on ZTE to an upcoming National Defense
Authorization Act measure,” but White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan
Gidley “suggested that such a move would undermine the authority of the
executive branch.” Gidley is quoted as saying, “The administration will
work with Congress to ensure the final N.D.A.A. conference report respects
the separation of powers.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=05d-25d&t=c>
(6/13, Colvin) notes Gidley “pointed to ‘massive penalties’ imposed on ZTE
as part of what he described as “an historic enforcement action” by the
Commerce Department,” which he said “will ensure ZTE pays for its
violations and gives our government complete oversight of their future
activity without undue harm to American suppliers and their workers.”
The Washington
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=05e-de1&t=c>
(6/13, Dinan, Boyer) and USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=05f-184&t=c>
(6/13, Fritze), among other news outlets, also report the story.

        Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, Eliot A. Cohen, who
served as the counselor of the Department of State in the George W. Bush
Administration from 2007 to 2009, and Norman L. Eisen, a senior fellow at
the Brookings Institution, criticize the ZTE deal in an op-ed in the New
York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=060-8dc&t=c>
(6/13, Eisen, Cohen, Wertheimer), arguing that “the Senate must hold its
ground: Not only does ZTE pose a unique threat to American security, but
Mr. Trump’s kid-glove treatment of the company raises questions about
possible links between it and Trump family businesses.”

        *US Could Announce China Tariffs As Early As Friday. *The Wall
Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=061-348&t=c>
(6/13, Davis, Wei) reports that Administration could, as early as Friday,
announce new tariffs on tens of billions of dollars of Chinese goods, which
the Journal predicts would lead to Chinese retaliation. However, senior
trade officials in the White House, Commerce and Treasury departments, and
the US Trade Representative’s office said that President Trump, who has yet
to approve the tariffs, could rethink applying such pressure to China when
the US is seeking Beijing’s help in getting North Korea to denuclearize.
Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=062-764&t=c>
(6/13, Palmer) reports that the “long list of goods that could get more
expensive after President Donald Trump slaps 25 percent tariffs on a list
of Chinese imports” is expected to include “a wide range of U.S. consumer
favorites,” including birth control pills, lawnmowers, and flat-panel
televisions. While “U.S. trade officials said they went through a
multi-step process to ensure any product hit with the tariffs will have a
minimal impact on consumers,” Politico reports that “many industries are
pushing back.”

        *Trump Hints At “Clamping Down On Trade” With China But Touts
Relationship With Xi. *President Trump said on Fox News’ Special Report[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=063-6e2&t=c>
(6/13) that China may “be a little upset...because we are very strongly
clamping down on trade.” When asked to elaborate, Trump said “you will see
over the next couple of weeks. You man understand what we’re doing. With
that being said, I have a very good relationship with [Chinese] President
Xi [Jinping].” Trump called Xi an “incredible guy,” adding that Xi is
“essentially president for life. That’s pretty good.”

        *Powell Emphasizes Lack Of Evidence Trade Frictions Affecting
Corporate Behavior. *Peter Eavis writes in the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=064-8a9&t=c>
(6/13, Eavis) “DealBook” column that Federal Reserve Powell “seemed to go
out of his way to emphasize that there was no evidence that the trade
frictions were weighing on corporate behavior.” The comments “are likely to
go down well with supporters of President Trump’s increasingly belligerent
trade policies,” but “top Fed officials are often more circumspect when
discussing threats to the economy, especially those that could soon become
real.” Eavis speculates that Powell may have been “sending a message to the
White House that the Fed would not speak out about the Trump
administration’s trade actions. “

        *AP Fact Check: US Dairy Farmer Woes Mainly Due To Milk
Overproduction. *In a “Fact Check,” the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=065-17a&t=c>
(6/13, Wiseman, Rugaber) reports that while President Trump “has a point
when he lambastes Canada for protecting its dairy farmers with hefty
tariffs,” America “is hardly innocent when it comes to farm protectionism”
and also is running a $474 million surplus in dairy trade with Canada.
While “U.S. dairy farmers are ailing,” it’s mainly due to them producing
“too much milk.” Meanwhile, in an “irony,” the Trans-Pacific Partnership,
which Trump withdrew from, would have phased out Canada’s dairy protection,
but the clause – a concession to the US – was dropped after Trump withdrew
from the negotiations.
Domestic Policy
Ryan: Trump Backs Compromise Immigration Bill That Includes His “Four
Pillars.”

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=066-1b5&t=c>
(6/13, Mascaro, Fram) reports that Speaker Ryan told House Republicans
yesterday that President Trump “backs compromise immigration legislation”
even though “details of the measure remained in negotiation between
conservatives and moderates, and whatever emerges faces an uphill climb.”
In a closed-door meeting, Ryan “addressed his colleagues a day after
planning two votes next week on a pair of competing GOP immigration
measures, one by conservatives and the other a still-evolving plan that
leaders hope will appeal to both ends of the party’s spectrum.” Rep. Chris
Collins said Ryan “told lawmakers that he spoke to Trump on Tuesday and
‘the president seemed very supportive’ of the compromise bill that’s being
drafted.”

        According to the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=067-a44&t=c>
(6/13, Stolberg, Kaplan), “Lawmakers attending the meeting said the
compromise bill will be built around four principles – Mr. Trump has called
them the ‘four pillars’ – that the president has insisted any immigration
bill contain: a path to citizenship for the young undocumented children
known as Dreamers; beefed-up border security, including $25 billion for the
wall the president wants to build; an end to the current diversity visa
lottery system, which is aimed at bringing in immigrants from
underrepresented nations; and limits on family-based migration, known as
chain migration.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=068-2a3&t=c>
(6/13, Dinan) reports “Ryan said he doesn’t know yet whether the bill has
enough support to pass, saying his members will have to make decisions when
they see the final language that’s still being written.” However, he stated
“the process marks a victory, with moderate and conservative Republicans
seeking a middle ground on something the president can sign.”

        The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=069-e5b&t=c>
(6/13, Ferrechio) says “moderates say they are getting behind the
compromise bill GOP leaders are writing, which is a version of Trump’s four
pillar plan and includes what they want most – a pathway to citizenship for
1.8 million Dreamers.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=06a-508&t=c>
(6/13, Bade, Caygle) warns, however, that “many senior Republicans say
they’re not convinced this ‘compromise’ will pass.” Meanwhile, Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=06b-769&t=c>
(6/12, Edgerton, Wasson) reports that US Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice
President Neil Bradley said the USCOC is “pleased that it appears the House
will take up long-overdue legislation to provide permanent legal status to
Dreamers.”

        *Conservatives Tell Miller They Need Explicit Trump Tweet Before
Backing Bill. *Bloomberg News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=06c-f25&t=c>
(6/13, Edgerton, House, Wasson) reports that “lawmakers from the
conservative Republican Study Committee told [senior White House adviser
Stephen] Miller...that immigration is such a hot-button issue in their
districts that they need an explicit and public Trump tweet – not just a
closed door meeting with a staffer – to give them political cover to vote
for legislation that hardliners could label as ‘amnesty.’” The Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=06d-680&t=c>
(6/13, Datoc) reports, meanwhile, that after meeting with GOP lawmakers
“Miller signaled that the White House supports Republican efforts to pass
two separate immigration bills next week.” Miller “told reporters that
‘both the bills are being finalized right now, but we strongly support what
they’re doing.’”

        *Bannon Encourages House Conservatives To Oppose Bill. *Nevertheless,
the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=06e-39f&t=c>
(6/13, Debonis, Wagner) reports that House conservatives “were encouraged
to fight” the compromise bill by former White House counselor Steve Bannon,
who, “in a morning session with about two dozen conservatives...warned that
passing a bill could cost the GOP control of the House in November.”

        *Breitbart: Short Is Pushing Trump To Back Ryan’s “Amnesty
Bill.” *According
to Breitbart
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=06f-496&t=c>
(6/13, Binder), White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short is
“trying to stampede” Trump “into an amnesty deal for millions of illegal
aliens which discards at least two of the four pillars in the president’s
‘America First’ immigration agenda.” Breitbart says Short “formerly ran the
failed ‘Never Trump’ effort inside the globalist Koch brothers’ network of
organizations.” Breitbart reports that Ryan has “called for passage of the
amnesty bill next week” that “may also allow DACA illegal aliens to bring
their foreign parents to the US through chain migration, a surge of legal
immigration that would be upwards of 1.5 million foreign nationals arriving
in the country.”

        *Administration Seeking Judge’s Order As “Plan B” To Eliminate
DACA. *Matt Vespa writes in a blog on Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=070-2bc&t=c>
(6/13, Vespa) that the Trump White House’s Plan B to eliminate the Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals program “is to get a ruling from a federal
judge in Texas to declare the program illegal, which could set in motion
DACA’s death within weeks,” as the Administration would ask the Supreme
Court for an emergency ruling putting a hold on both this order the order
by another judge requiring DACA remain functioning – allowing the
Administration to shut it down. Vespa concludes, “I see where some in the
party worry that the optics will cost us an entire voting bloc for a
generation or more, but we have to enforce the law.”

        *US Could Strip Thousands Of Citizenship By Scanning Immigrants’
Old Fingerprints. *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=071-e40&t=c>
(6/13, Miroff) reports that the Trump Administration “is analyzing
decades-old fingerprints in an unprecedented effort to rescind American
citizenship from immigrants who may have lied or falsified information on
their naturalization forms.” According to the Post, “revoking citizenship,
a process known as denaturalization, has long been treated as a rare and
relatively drastic measure by immigration authorities, reserved for
foreigners who commit egregious crimes or acts of fraud, or pose a threat
to national security.” However, “under a new policy memo issued by L.
Francis Cissna, director of US Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS), the agency is investigating thousands of old fingerprint records
and files to determine whether foreigners made false or fraudulent
statements in their attempts to obtain legal residency in the United
States.”

        *Zero-Tolerance Immigration Policy Could Deny Asylum From Gang
Violence. *NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=072-b8d&t=c>
(6/13, story 4, 2:25, Holt) reported in “the fallout from the Trump
Administration’s controversial move on immigration, with a zero tolerance
policy.” NBC (Schwartz) added, “For years, migrants from Central America
made their way to the US to plea for refuge from gang violence from the
homeland,” and “this latest directive could jeopardize cases where a fear
of gang violence is central to their appeal to stay in the US.”

        *Government Making Progress In Reducing Immigration Case Backlog. *The
Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=073-397&t=c>
(6/13, Dinan) reports that in May the government, “for the first time in
years,” cleared more immigration cases than it received, “as officials
finally think they have hit on ways to tamp down on people abusing the
system as a backdoor method of illegal immigration.” Additionally, the
Justice Department’s tightening of standards for asylum. “should speed”
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ ability to reduce the backlog.

        *Border Patrol Agent Survives Being Shot. *The CBS Evening News[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=074-cd0&t=c>
(6/13, story 3, 1:50, Dickerson) reported on “a remarkable story of
survival” in which a border patrol agent “is in stable condition after
being shot several times at close range.” CBS (Villarreal) added, “Under a
new reporting policy,” the border patrol says the number of attacks on
agents “is dramatically higher” than the FBI average of 428 per year. The
Border Patrol multiplies all variables in an incident, “so a 2017 incident
in south Texas involving six suspects, seven agents, and three kinds of
weapons was reported as 126 assaults.”
Media Analyses: Midterm Primaries Showing GOP Has Become Party Of Trump.

NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=075-bc2&t=c>
(6/13, story 6, 1:50, Holt) reported, “There are very big lessons to take
away” from the midterm primary elections, “especially for Republicans who
dare to defy President Trump.” On Tuesday’s SC1 GOP primary, Rep. Mark
Sanford (R) – a Trump critic – “lost his first race ever.” This “explains
why Republican leaders are shying away from confronting the President on
huge policy disagreements. Scrambling to avoid a showdown over immigration
in the House and tariffs in the Senate.” Ed O’Keefe reported on the CBS
Evening News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=076-cae&t=c>
(6/13, story 5, 1:30, Dickerson), “There’s no question the GOP candidates
are paying a price for bucking Mr. Trump,” which is “why you hear so little
criticism from most GOP lawmakers.” Meanwhile, “the energy and the
enthusiasm displayed by women is good news for Democrats heading into
November.”

        In an analysis, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=077-6af&t=c>
(6/13, Weigel, Costa, Kim) reports, “Fiercely and undeniably,” the GOP
“this week confirmed its rebranding as the party of Trump.” Congressional
leaders “swallowed the president’s upending of long-standing party views on
several major issues,” meaning the party “appears united now not by fealty
to ideas or policies but to a man.” Republican voters have driven this move
by adopting the president’s positions and looking “the other way at a
progression of missteps and conflicts that would have doomed prior
presidents.” However, the GOP’s move is “fraught with danger.” Trump has an
“inability to transfer power down the ballot,” and “most of the races that
will determine control of the House are being fought in suburban districts,
filled with women and independent voters who have been less in thrall to
Trump than have elected officials and strongly Republican voters.”

        Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=078-436&t=c>
(6/13, Dovere) reported, “It’s Donald Trump’s GOP. The anti-Trump
candidates are fleeing, and the ones who stick around are getting trampled.
The chill has gone out among whoever’s left: there’s no more speaking up,
and if there is, it’s just for the sake of a speech, a protest quote that
quickly disappears.”

        Under the headline, “It’s Trump’s Party Now As GOP Learns Not To
Cross President,” the AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=079-e38&t=c>
(6/13, Mascaro) reports that “the lesson being learned by Republicans after
Trump critic...Sanford lost his primary election” is “don’t cross...Trump.”
According to the AP, “One wrong turn – or in Sanford’s case, many – and
they could endure the wrath of a president who is quick to attack
detractors as enemies, even those from his own party.” The AP says that
earlier Wednesday, Trump “took a victory lap,” tweeting
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=07a-a35&t=c>,
“My political representatives didn’t want me to get involved in the Mark
Sanford primary thinking that Sanford would easily win – but with a few
hours left I felt that Katie was such a good candidate, and Sanford was so
bad, I had to give it a shot. Congrats to Katie Arrington!” The Charleston
(SC) Post and Courier
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=07b-27e&t=c>
(6/13, Shain) reports that Sanford, “considered among the most conservative
in the” US, “was defeated by the one sin GOP primary voters couldn’t
accept: bad-mouthing President Trump.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=07c-20a&t=c>
(6/13, Whitesides) reports that Sanford “is the latest Republican to learn
a tough lesson – challenging...Trump can be political suicide.” Sanford’s
“upset loss on Tuesday to a primary opponent who questioned his commitment
to Trump, along with a recent setback for Trump critic [Rep.] Martha Roby
in Alabama and the Senate nomination of a controversial anti-establishment
Trump supporter in Virginia,” Corey Stewart (R), “reinforced the degree to
which loyalty to Trump has become a party litmus test. While fealty to the
Republican president may be a requirement to win low-turnout Republican
primaries dominated by conservative activists, it could prove a tougher
sell against energized anti-Trump Democratic forces in midterm elections
this fall.”

        The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=07d-0fe&t=c>
(6/13, Martin, Tackett) reports that Trump “wasn’t on the ballot or even
stateside for Tuesday’s primary elections in Virginia and South Carolina.
But he loomed over both states, just as he has in nearly every nominating
contest this year, underscoring how the” GOP “has become the party of Trump
and that its politicians cross him at their peril.” After noting Sanford’s
loss in South Carolina and Stewart’s win in Virginia, the Times adds that
Trump’s “transformation of the GOP – its policies, its tone, even the fate
of its candidates – has never been so evident.”

        Trump said in an interview on Fox News’ Special Report[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=07e-16b&t=c>
(6/13), “I think it’s a whole different ball game. I think the economy is
so good. I think the tax cuts have been incredible, far greater than even I
thought they would be. The regulation cuts have been great. I’ve done more
in 500 days than any President has done in their first 500 days. ... I
think we are going to do very well, I really do. The economy is doing so
well, we are doing so well as a nation, I think we are going to surprise
people and if you look at the numbers and the kind of turnouts like Texas,
how many people showed up to vote as an example, how many Republicans
showed up to vote, people were very surprised.”

        Rep. Sanford said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=07f-d09&t=c>
(6/13), “The race devolved down to...are you for Trump or against Trump?’
And my message was gray, saying I support Trump on many ideas or the views
of the folks that I represent and I oppose on the ones that I don’t. I
think that kind of nuanced approach is a difficult message, as proved last
night, to convey in this particular primary.” He added, “I think it is
important” Republicans criticize the President. “I think it is important
that we have vigorous dissent. You know, it is okay, to disagree. ... Do we
want a litmus test or folks agree with us. That is a distinction I have
never seen before.”

        Sanford also said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=080-9b3&t=c>
(6/13), “There is also a big question to your point of party. Are we the
party of less spending, not just lower taxes but less spending. Are we the
party of engagement with the rest of the world. Are we the party of open
trade. Are we going to pull away?” He added, “Never in my lifetime has it
been so tied to an individual personality and a litmus test of are you
completely compliant and are you, you know, are you on board with me as a
person as opposed to are you on board with the ideals that this party is
based on. I have never seen that particularly wrinkle as I am seeing it
now.”

        In her Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=081-7e0&t=c>
(6/13) column, Karen Tumulty writes that Sanford told her his defeat “will
send a strong message to other Republicans about the consequences of
calling out Trump for his apostasies on the things conservatives claim to
hold dear – from fiscal responsibility to free trade. Or for pointing out,
as Sanford did, Trump’s ignorance about what is in the Constitution and the
president’s singular lack of transparency in refusing to release his tax
returns. ‘They don’t want the tweet that I got last night,’ Sanford said.”
Tumulty adds, “The tweet in question was a broadside, delivered just three
hours before the polls closed,” in which Trump backed Sanford’s primary
challenger and said that “Sanford has been very unhelpful to me in my
campaign to MAGA. He is MIA and nothing but trouble.”

        The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=082-11c&t=c>
(6/13, Samuels) reported that RNC chief Ronna Romney McDaniel “warned
Wednesday that those who don’t embrace...Trump’s agenda ‘will be making a
mistake.’ ‘Complacency is our enemy. Anyone that does not embrace the
@realDonaldTrump agenda of making America great again will be making a
mistake,’ McDaniel tweeted.”

        Dana Milbank writes in his Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=083-a47&t=c>
(6/13) column that “Trump’s America has taken on a Dickensian pall,” with
plans for tent cities to house the migrant children it is detaining,
separating children from their parents, deporting teens to countries they
don’t remember and where they are killed, and the GOP preventing a vote on
the Dream Act. This has “the appearance of abject cruelty,” so Republicans
are talking about “their tender concern for the addicted.” However, their
proposals are “more campaign material than substance.” Meanwhile, “the show
of compassion rings hollow,” because GOP lawmakers “aren’t willing to stand
up to” Trump, “the source of their Dickensian dilemma.” Milbank concludes,
“Republicans may be afraid voters will see them as heartless – but they are
more afraid of crossing Trump.”

        Virginia Senate nominee Cory Stewart (R) said on CNN Cuomo Prime
Time
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=084-b0d&t=c>
(6/13), “What’s happening inside of the Republican party is the party is
changing. It’s becoming the party of the little guy. Once upon a time, it
was the Democrats who claimed to be the party of the working guy. No
longer. They slammed the door in their face and now it’s President Trump
and the new Republican Party that is supporting working Americans,
blue-collar workers.”

        CNN political analyst Kirsten Powers said on CNN’s The Lead[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=085-e67&t=c>
(6/13) that the GOP is “completely unified behind [Trump] and I’m often at
a loss to say why. ... I don’t think if you were to have followed
Republican politics for as long as we have, a lot of stuff he does doesn’t
seem like the kind of things that Republicans used to like, and you can
only point to [the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Neil] Gorsuch so
many times. But when it comes to other things, I think even what just
happened in North Korea – what would have happened if that was Barack
Obama? It would be nothing but stories about appeasement and the world
would have exploded probably. So why they are so behind him I can’t say but
they are and it is true and anybody who criticizes him pays a high price.”

        *Corker: Support For Trump Almost “Cultish.” *The Tennessean
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=086-521&t=c>
(6/13, Collins) reports that Sen. Bob Corker (R) “lashed out again
Wednesday at his fellow Republicans,” saying that supporting Trump is
“almost...becoming a cultish thing.” Tuesday, “in a fiery speech on the
Senate floor,” Corker “blasted Senate Republicans for refusing to give a
vote on bipartisan legislation that he is sponsoring to give Congress the
chance to accept or reject tariffs imposed by the president,” saying that
his party members are afraid to bring it to a vote because it may displease
Trump. The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=087-58f&t=c>
(6/13, Rappeport, Fandos) reports, “Casting aside the party’s long-held
commitment to free trade,” Senate Republicans chose not to stand up to
Trump on tariffs “for fear of poking the bear,” according to Corker. This
“setback for a core Republican principle...played out in public on the
Senate floor, underscoring just how far most congressional Republicans
would go to avoid confronting Mr. Trump ahead of the November midterm
elections.” Meanwhile, “the increasingly lonely forces of opposition within
the party are” either leaving politics or not elected officials.
In Southern Baptist Convention Speech, Pence Touts Administration
Accomplishments.

The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=088-320&t=c>
(6/13, Crary) reports Vice President Pence “gave an often boastful
campaign-style speech Wednesday to the closing session of the Southern
Baptist Convention’s annual meeting, winning several standing ovations even
as some evangelicals criticized his appearance.” Pence “devoted much of his
speech to touting the Trump’s administration’s achievements since taking
office,” saying, “It’s been 500 days of action. ... 500 days of promises
made and promises kept.” Pence “enthused about Trump’s meeting this week
with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un,” received “a big ovation by
mentioning the relocation of the US Embassy in Israel” and “drew more loud
applause when he declared Trump ‘the most pro-life president in American
history’ and noted that he has appointed many conservatives to federal
judgeships.” The AP adds that “some audience members could be seen sitting
with their arms folded during the ovations,” and alluded to efforts by some
attendees to withdraw the invitation to Pence.

        USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=089-3c4&t=c>
(6/13, Meyer) also reports Pence’s speech “did not sit well with everyone
in the convention hall and those watching online. Some took to social media
to express their dismay of the address, calling it partisan and a stump
speech.” Along similar lines, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=08a-aa3&t=c>
(6/13, Dias) says Pence “appealed for the community’s continued support,
even as his appearance led to complaints that a religious event was being
used for political gain.” The Times goes on to report that “while the
convention has at times had Republican leaders speak, its stated purpose is
to focus on evangelism and missionary work,” and “Pence mentioned ‘the
president’ more than three dozen times in his 30 minute speech.”

        *Sessions Announces New Religious Freedom Civil Rights Initiative. *
Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=08b-476&t=c>
(6/13, Lynch) reports DOJ “said on Wednesday it was planning to ramp up
efforts to bring more civil rights lawsuits against municipalities that try
to discriminate against houses of worship.” The new initiative “was
announced in conjunction with a new case filed against Woodcliff Lake, New
Jersey, over allegations it illegally denied zoning approval to an Orthodox
Jewish congregation seeking to build a synagogue.” Attorney General
Sessions said at the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center’s annual meeting in
Washington, DC, “Many Americans have felt that their freedom to practice
their faith has been under attack. ... This feeling is understandable.
Religious Americans have heard themselves called deplorables. They’ve heard
themselves called bitter clingers.” Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=08c-71e&t=c>
(6/13, Norwood) reports that in his remarks, Sessions also “backed a recent
Supreme Court decision in favor of a Christian baker who refused to make a
custom cake for a same-sex couple, saying that ‘there are plenty of other
people to bake that cake.’”
ABC News: Cohen “Likely” To Cooperate With Federal Investigators.

ABC World News Tonight
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=08d-ff6&t=c>
(6/13, lead story, 3:00, Muir) reported that Michael Cohen “will now likely
cooperate with federal investigators.” President Trump “has acknowledged
Cohen arranged the hush money to Stormy Daniels, but the President also
said he did not believe Cohen would ever flip.” ABC (Thomas) went on to
report on “word he is parting ways with his own attorneys,” and “among the
reasons, a source says,” is “concern over payment of legal fees. He is
under incredible pressure.” In an online report, ABC News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=08e-9e2&t=c>
(6/13, Stephanopoulos) said Cohen’s decision to cooperate with prosecutors,
“which is believed to be imminent, will likely hit the White House, family
members, staffers and counsels hard.”

        NBC Nightly News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=08f-54c&t=c>
(6/13, lead story, 2:05, Holt) also mentioned “speculation he’ll flip and
become a government witness,” and added (Welker) that whether he will is
“the question looming over the White House tonight. ... So far, Cohen
hasn’t been charged and several sources familiar with the matter tell NBC
news, he has not spoken with prosecutors.” The CBS Evening News[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=090-2a6&t=c>
(6/13, story 2, 1:25, Dickerson) reported, “As you might imagine, as a
member of the President’s inner circle, he would be an incredibly valuable
witness to special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigation into any
links between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign.”

        The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=091-818&t=c>
(6/13, Hays) cites an anonymous source as saying that Cohen “has not yet
held any discussions with prosecutors about potentially cooperating in the
investigation.” However, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=092-0e5&t=c>
(6/13, Feuer, Rashbaum, Haberman) says “with Mr. Cohen’s legal team in
turmoil, the chances increase that Mr. Cohen could” do so, and Bloomberg
News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=093-0b5&t=c>
(6/13, Pettypiece, Voreacos) that “Cohen’s move to switch lawyers was
interpreted by some legal observers as a sign he may seek to cooperate with
federal prosecutors.”

        Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=094-6cf&t=c>
(6/13, Freifeld) reports Cohen “will hire other counsel once the review is
complete.” An anonymous source tells Reuters that Cohen “wants to hire a
lawyer who has a relationship with the US prosecutor’s office in
Manhattan.” A “friend who spoke with Cohen in the past few days” says Cohen
“has complained that he does not feel he has received enough support from
Trump in dealing with the situation.” USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=095-a49&t=c>
(6/13, Johnson, Hayes), Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=096-4b3&t=c>
(6/13, Gerstein), and the Wall Street Journal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=097-d19&t=c>
(6/13, Ballhaus, Hong), among other news outlets, also report on the
speculation about Cohen’s plans.

        The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=098-699&t=c>
(6/13, Helderman, Hamburger) reports, meanwhile, that “Andrii V. Artemenko,
a former member of the Ukrainian parliament, said in an interview that many
of the questions he faced during several hours of testimony Friday were
focused on his interactions with Cohen.” Artemenko “met with Cohen in
January 2017 to discuss a back-channel peace initiative for Ukraine.” The
Post adds “the special counsel’s ongoing questions about Cohen’s activities
indicate that Mueller remains intently focused on Trump’s attorney, even
after referring a separate probe into Cohen’s business practices to federal
prosecutors in Manhattan months ago.”

        When asked about the House Intelligence Committee not interviewing
Cohen, Rep. Eric Swalwell said on CNN’s Situation Room[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=099-0b5&t=c>
(6/13), “We were completely unwilling as a committee because the
Republicans wouldn’t use the subpoena power to look into his communication
logs, to look at his travel records.” He added, “We asked Mr. Cohen for
records to show that he wasn’t over there and he wasn’t willing to turn
that over. I think this has to be a wake-up call for the House Intelligence
Republicans, that we closed our investigation prematurely and now we’re
going to learn a lot more about a key witness.” Swalwell said that if Cohen
does flip, Trump is “in real trouble,” adding, “Let’s just be real. Honest
presidents don’t have fixers. ... So I think this is the beginning of a
dark, dark storm coming for President Trump.”

        Former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin said on CNN’s The Lead[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=09a-2ac&t=c>
(6/13), “Donald Trump knows that Michael Cohen wants a pardon and how much
trouble he’s in. ... And Donald Trump has not, he has not given a pardon
yet. I think giving a pardon to Michael Cohen would be politically much
more difficult than any of the other pardons so far because this there is
no suggestion that Michael Cohen has any national security, government
responsibility. ... It would be seen as very much a self interested act.
But Donald Trump has broken many of the rules we’ve ascribed to him before
and he may break these too.”

        Toobin said on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=09b-a70&t=c>
(6/13), “I think it’s also worth pausing to think how grotesque an idea it
is that the President might pardon Michael Cohen. I mean, what is the
public interest in pardoning Michael Cohen? Is he some victim of – is he a
deserving person? Pardoning Michael Cohen would be solely an act of
self-preservation on the part of the President. And the very idea that
we’re even thinking about that is really shocking to me. And it’s an
example of how much our sort of discourse is degraded that that’s even a
possibility.”

        *CNN’s Borger: Cohen Issue “Very Much On The President’s Mind.” *CNN
Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger said on CNN’s Situation Room[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=09c-744&t=c>
(6/13), “We’ve learned this is very much on the President’s mind and that,
in fact, as he was flying back in kind of a euphoric mood from North Korea,
calling members of Congress to talk about the summit with Kim Jong-un, he
was also calling his attorneys to kind of game out what would happen next.”

        *Giuliani: Mueller “Harassing” Cohen. *Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani
said on Fox News The Ingraham Angle
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=09d-f35&t=c>
(6/13), “The reality is they are trying to frighten him. Michael is a tough
guy, I don’t think that will happen. And if he does [I] don’t think he’s
going to lie.” Giuliani also said on Fox News The Ingraham Angle[image:
Image removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=09e-839&t=c>
(6/13), “We are very comfortable if he cooperates, and, including the
things that Rosenstein said to President Trump himself, that he is not
involved in that investigation. My concern is that the Mueller
investigation is going on interminably, and I think it is reflected in
public opinion. ... He’s harassing...Cohen, and the Paul Manafort case
seems to be falling apart. “

        *Politico/Morning Consult Poll: Eroding Public Support For Mueller
Investigation. *The Hill
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=09f-1a4&t=c>
(6/13, Greenwood) reports a Politico/Morning Consult poll of 1,994
registered voters nationwide, conducted June 7-10, “suggests the criticism
by the Trump administration and its allies in Congress and the media is
eroding public support for” special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
The poll found 36 percent of voters view the “investigation in a negative
light,” which is “a significant rise from the 23 percent who viewed
Mueller’s probe negatively in July 2017.” Additionally, “40 percent of
voters believe that Mueller’s probe has been handled unfairly – a 6-point
increase from February.” However, 48 percent of voters “believe that Trump
has tried to impede the investigation,” up from 44 percent in February. An
online video on USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0a0-cf0&t=c>
(6/13, Today) also reports on the poll.

        *Cobb Says McGahn Recused Entire Office From Working On Russia
Investigation. *Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0a1-7fd&t=c>
(6/13, Samuelsohn) reports former White House attorney Ty Cobb said during
a panel discussion hosted by George Mason University that “White House
Counsel Don McGahn recused his entire staff last summer from working on the
Russia investigation because many of his office’s lawyers played
significant roles in key episodes at the center of the probe.” Cobb added
that this “was a key reason for why he was hired last summer to manage
President Donald Trump’s official response on the Russia case.”
Former Senate Staffer Wolfe Pleads Not Guilty To Lying To FBI In Leak Probe.

USA Today
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0a2-db5&t=c>
(6/13, Johnson) reports former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer James
A. Wolfe staffer pleaded not guilty “to charges of lying repeatedly to FBI
agents investigating his contacts with journalists as part of a larger
inquiry into the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.” His
attorneys said they would “seek a far-reaching gag order that would
prohibit government officials, including President Trump, from making
‘prejudicial statements’ about the case.” Last week Trump called Wolfe “a
very important leaker” and said his prosecution could be a “terrific
thing.” One of the reporters prosecutors allege communicated with Wolfe is
New York Times correspondent Ali Watkins, with whom Wolfe had a romantic
relationship. In a departure from “traditional practice by federal
authorities,” the Department of Justices “obtained information on her
Google email accounts and Verizon phone” without notifying her in advance.
The Washington Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0a3-744&t=c>
(6/13, Cohen) reports Wolfe attorney Benjamin Klubes said “that Wolfe is
not charged with disclosing classified information and promised he ‘never
breached the trust’ he was given.” The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0a4-564&t=c>
(6/13, Mordock) also covers this story.

        In an editorial, the Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0a5-956&t=c>
(6/13) writes the seizure of Watkin’s records “could signal an aggressive
campaign by the Trump administration to upend” the balance between
society’s need for a free press and its need to keep some information
secret “and squelch the vital communication between reporters and their
sources.” The Post adds, “leaks are a legitimate and vital channel for a
democracy, and they are not always illegal or about classified material.”
It concludes, “a rules-based system of keeping secrets must function
properly and be respected.”

        *New York Times Reviewing Watkins’ Work History. *The New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0a6-987&t=c>
(6/12, Grynbaum) reports the New York Times is reviewing Ali Watkins’ work
history. The DOJ obtained her email and phone records as part of an
investigation of former Senate Intelligence Committee aide, James A. Wolfe.
The Times’ review includes her involvement in the Wolfe case, “including
the nature of her relationship with Mr. Wolfe, and what she disclosed about
it to her prior employers.” The government “seizure of Ms. Watkins’s
records has raised concerns about overreach by the Justice Department,
particularly among news organizations and press freedom groups.”

        *Sessions: Firings May Follow IG Report On Clinton Probe. *The Daily
Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0a7-453&t=c>
(6/13, Ross) reports Attorney General Sessions said that after a Department
of Justice Office of the Inspector General report on an investigation into
the FBI’s handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation is released,
“If anyone else shows up in this report to have done something that
requires termination we will do so.”

        In his opening monologue on Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0a8-91f&t=c>
(6/13), Sean Hannity said, “This impending report should shed a critical
light on what were the crimes of Hillary Clinton and how the FBI, DOJ,
high-ranking members of the Obama Administration completely and
intentionally fixed, botched the criminal investigation. Of course, the
contents of the report could be totally ruined by Rod Rosenstein and his
bureaucratic friends at the Department of Justice.”

        Alan Dershowitz said on Fox News The Ingraham Angle[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0a9-5fd&t=c>
(6/13), “I think there will be to IG reports. The one that is released on
the one that was changed. I hope that the various Senate and House
investigating committees subpoena the original draft of the report so that
we can see what was hot in it before efforts were made to try to soften it,
and perhaps whitewash the Justice Department. I think in the end, the IG
will come out with more public support than the Mueller probe now has, and
when that happens it will demonstrate that we didn’t need a special
counsel, that the Justice Department career people, people who don’t have a
steak or partisan interest, could have been involved in every aspect of
this case.”

        *National Review’s McCarthy: Rosenstein’s Conflicts Of Interest Are
“Distorting His Judgment.” *Andrew McCarthy of National Review
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0aa-077&t=c>
(6/13) says the House Intelligence Committee is “investigating whether the
government has used the Justice Department’s awesome investigative
authorities as a weapon against political adversaries.” McCarthy adds that
“in response to this very investigation,” Deputy Attorney General Rod
Rosenstein “threatened to subpoena the committee’s records.” According to
McCarthy, “the best explanation for the outburst is that Rosenstein is
beset by profound conflicts of interest, and he’s acting like it.” McCarthy
suggests that Rosentstein’s threat is evidence that “the conflicts under
which he labors are distorting his judgment.”

        *Jordan Blasts Sessions For Defending Rosenstein. *The Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0ab-90b&t=c>
(6/13, Athey) reports, “House Judiciary member Jim Jordan ripped Attorney
General Jeff Sessions to shreds on Tuesday night after he defended the
actions of Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein.” Jordan said, “Rod Rosenstein was
threatening members of the House Intelligence Committee for doing their
job, for trying to get answers for the American people and the attorney
general says ‘that’s okay we’re doing just fine’?”

        Tucker Carlson said on Fox News Tucker Carlson Tonight[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0ac-11f&t=c>
(6/13), “The DOJ failed to dictate the final result of the two, 018
presidential election, but a year and a half into the Trump Administration
the Justice Department still seems to at times be operating as a shadow
government, a place that considers itself beyond the reach of normal
oversight.”

        In his opening monologue on Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0ad-837&t=c>
(6/13), Sean Hannity said, “After losing his temper, which according to
multiple sources I know, he frequently does, he launched into what was
described as a personal attack against a congressional staffer. This all
came after the House Intel Committee ramped up its oversight efforts
surrounding multiple DOJ-led to investigations in January. In other words,
let me make this clear. Rod Rosenstein was trying to bully, intimidate,
threaten house Republican, House Intel Committee Chairman and their members
from following and doing their constitutional duty of oversight.” He added,
“Rod Rosenstein, what are you hiding? Why are you obstructing,
intimidating, threatening, harassing congressional members and their staff?
It is time for Rod Rosenstein to step aside or be fired because if this is
an attempt at obstruction of justice, why won’t you let Congress do their
job?”

        *Congressmen Weigh In On Rosenstein. *Rep. Eric Swalwell (D) said
on CNN’s Situation Room
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0ae-f90&t=c>
(6/13), “From my observation of Mr. Rosenstein on the Judiciary and
Intelligence Committee, he has conducted himself in an honorable and has
been a person of integrity. What I have seen from Devin Nunes and many
people on his team is they have sought to obstruct, they’ve put out bogus
claims about the investigation and they are trying to reach very deeply
into the FBI evidence locker so they can turn over evidence to subjects in
this investigation. We don’t do that. We have oversight of what the FBI and
DOJ do, but we don’t get involved in ongoing investigations. All I can say
is I think Mr. Rosenstein has to start saying no to Mr. Nunes. Once he
continues to let many Nunes reach into the evidence locker, we’re going to
start to see the investigation compromised.”

        Rep. Devin Nunes (R) said Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed by
sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0af-43f&t=c>
(6/13), “When it comes to attacking staff and when the staff feels
uncomfortable, that’s when you’ve gone too far. ... What people should be
concerned about the most right now is obstruction of a valid congressional
investigation by the Department of Justice.” He added, “People in America
should be alarmed. This is a way to hide information not only from the
American people but to their congressmen. And to the staff that work for
them.” Nunes said he is “already past” the point of seeking to impeach
Rosenstein.

        Rep. Ron Desantis (R) said on Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image
removed by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0b0-455&t=c>
(6/13), “This conduct, if true, to me is disqualifying. He cannot be the
deputy attorney general. He’s threatening people who work in Congress
simply because we are doing our job to try to get answers for the American
people. The arrogance of Rosenstein, for months and months, to stonewall
and stonewall, nonstop. Even basic answers to redact information, it’s got
to the boiling point, we in Congress need to act.”

        Rep. Matt Gaetz (R) said on Fox News’ Hannity[image: Image removed
by sender. Video]
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0b1-4e8&t=c>
(6/13), “Rod Rosenstein is interactively conflicted in this investigation.
As brave patriots like Kash Patel work hard for the congress to expose the
corruption and the bias, then they are threatened by Rod Rosenstein? This
is outrageous. ... Look, I am sick and tired of Rod Rosenstein’s games. I
think we need to impeach Rosenstein.”
Conservative Groups Seek Reversal Of Obama-Era School Discipline Policy.

The Washington Free Beacon
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0b2-fd7&t=c>
(6/13, Lehman) reports conservative research center leaders called on
Secretary of Education DeVos “to rescind a controversial Obama-era school
discipline policy” in which, in an effort to reduce racial disparities in
discipline, the agency said it would “interpret a racially disparate impact
of suspensions as discrimination, even in the absence of evidence of
discriminatory intent.” The groups argue the policy violates federal law
and leads to discrimination “on the basis of race by ensuring that students
of all races receive punishments of the same type, frequency, and severity,
regardless of what the actual circumstances in the classroom dictate.”
Sanders Takes Issue With Report That She’s Planning To Leave White House.

CBS News
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0b3-9f1&t=c>
(6/13, Alemany) reported on its website that “two of the most visible
members of the Trump administration are planning their departures, the
latest sign of upheaval in a White House marked by turmoil.” Press
Secretary Sarah Sanders “and principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah are
both heading for the exits, according to sources inside the White House and
close to the administration.” Sanders “has told friends that she plans to
leave the administration at the end of the year,” while “Shah is also
considering his exit, but he has not yet settled on an exact date.” CBS
added that “neither Sanders nor Shah responded to repeated requests for
comment before this story was published.” Sanders responded on Twitter
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0b4-018&t=c>,
writing, “Does @CBSNews know something I don’t about my plans and my
future? I was at my daughter’s year-end Kindergarten event and they ran a
story about my ‘plans to leave the WH’ without even talking to me. I love
my job and am honored to work for @POTUS.”

        The Washington Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0b5-0b5&t=c>
(6/13, Boyer, Morton) indicates Sanders “promptly denied” the story,
the Washington
Examiner
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0b6-63a&t=c>
(6/13, Correll) that she “cast doubt” on it, and the Daily Caller
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0b7-f68&t=c>
(6/13, Caruso) that she “slammed” the CBS report.

        *Kudlow Leaves Hospital After Heart Attack. *Reuters
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0b8-32d&t=c>
(6/13, Editorial) reports that President Trump’s “top economic adviser
Larry Kudlow was discharged from a Washington-area hospital on Wednesday,
two days after he suffered a heart attack.” White House Press Secretary
Sarah Sanders said in a statement, “Doctors say Larry’s recovery is going
very well. The president and the administration are happy Larry is back
home and look forward to seeing him back to work soon.” The AP
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0b9-402&t=c>
(6/13, Press) says Kudlow is “expected to make a full recovery.” The Washington
Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0ba-3ae&t=c>
(6/13, Boyer), Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0bb-a58&t=c>
(6/13, Wagner), Politico
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0bc-bbb&t=c>
(6/13, Curi), and Townhall
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0bd-aaf&t=c>
(6/13, Pavlich), among other news outlets, run similar reports this
morning.
Cancer Research
New York Gives Providers $43.8M In Five-Year Grants For Free Cancer
Screenings.

Crain’s New York Business
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0be-e4a&t=c>
(6/13, LaMantia) reports New York “has issued $43.8 million in five-year
grants to hospitals, health centers and county health departments statewide
to help prevent cancer and provide free screenings to uninsured and
low-income New Yorkers.” The state “aims to address the disparities in
breast, cervical and colorectal cancer rates among different socioeconomic
groups,” and educate “communities about the risk of skin cancer and human
papillomavirus among young people and the availability of paid time off for
cancer screenings.”
NCI Appeals To Neuroscientists To Help Gain Better Understanding Of
“Chemobrain.”

In “Science Now,” the Los Angeles Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0bf-3e9&t=c>
(6/13, Healy) reports that at “some point in their treatment for cancer,
somewhere between 17% and 75% of patients with malignancies that don’t
affect the central nervous system report the sensation that a mental fog
has set in.” Now, three specialists “from the National Cancer Institute
have issued an appeal to neuroscientists for help” to better understand the
condition. Todd S. Horowitz, a “cognitive psychologist and program director
in the institute’s Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences,”
said, “We need an infusion of new ideas. Cognitive neuroscience would help
us characterize the deficits people have and allow us to connect them to
particular brain systems.”

        HealthImaging
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0c0-b89&t=c>
(6/13, Rohman) reports that “three biobehavioral and psychological
specialists from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) published an appeal
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0c1-8fe&t=c>
to neuroscientists on June 12 in Trends in Neuroscience, asking for further
assistance in researching the cognitive effects of mental fog – known
officially as cancer-related cognitive impairment or ‘chemobrain.’” The
article reports that “why chemobrain occurs, how long it lasts and what
health problems it causes are currently unknown,” and “how many cancer
patients are actually affected by chemobrain” is also unknown.
Editorials/Op-Eds
New York Times.

*“Horror Multiplies In Yemen.”* A New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0c2-784&t=c>
(6/12) editorial accuses President Trump of emboldening “Saudi and emirati
leaders,” arguing that because Trump shares “their antipathy for Iran,” he
“will sell them virtually any weapon they want.” The Times also blames the
Administration for supplying the Saudi-led coalition with “intelligence,
refueling capabilities and other assistance,” and for sending “mixed
signals.” The Times urges the Administration to “speak with one voice to
its Arab allies, making clear that an attack” on the port “would be a
disaster and that even considering such action reveals how futile their
policy in Yemen has been.” To the Times, “[w]orking with the Houthis and
the United Nations on a cease-fire and a deal for neutral control of the
port could be the first step to a political settlement that is the only
hope for peace.”

        *“Macedonia By Another Name.” *In an editorial, the New York Times
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0c3-f1f&t=c>
(6/13) welcomes the deal between Macedonia and Greece to rename the former
the “Republic of North Macedonia,” offering progress in “one of the world’s
most arcane, yet most intractable, disputes.” The Balkans are a “maze of
fierce and ancient grudges,” and “when tempers rise in the Balkans, history
teaches that there is no safe distance.”
Washington Post.

“No ‘Love’ In North Korea.”A Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0c4-241&t=c>
(6/13) editorial says many of Trump’s “false statements regarding North
Korea and his summit meeting with” Kim “may be harmless,” and some are even
“justifiable in the context of a nascent diplomatic process.” His remark
that North Korea “does love him,” however, “is obtuse, offensive and
harmful,” according to the Post, which explains, “No one in North Korea may
criticize Mr. Kim and expect to survive.” The Post concludes in writing
that the thousands of people who have “looked to America and its democratic
allies to stand for their dignity and freedom as human beings will feel a
bit less hopeful about their future. They will feel betrayed. They will be
right to feel that way.”

        *“Secrets, Leaks – And Balance.” *In an editorial, the Washington
Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0c5-29e&t=c>
(6/13) writes the seizure of Watkin’s records “could signal an aggressive
campaign by the Trump administration to upend” the balance between
society’s need for a free press and its need to keep some information
secret “and squelch the vital communication between reporters and their
sources.” The Post adds, “leaks are a legitimate and vital channel for a
democracy, and they are not always illegal or about classified material.”
It concludes, “a rules-based system of keeping secrets must function
properly and be respected.”

        *“Catastrophe Could Lie Ahead In Yemen.” *The Washington Post
<http://mailview.bulletinintelligence.com/mailview.aspx?m=2018061401biden&r=email-94c3&l=0c6-fe7&t=c>
(6/13) editorializes that “the United Nations and every major humanitarian
agency have warned of dire consequences for the 22 million Yemenis who
already depend on outside assistance, including 8 million on the brink of
famine,” but the offensive “nevertheless went ahead early Wednesday after
receiving what amounted to passive assent from the Trump administration.”
To the Post, this means the US “will be complicit if the result is what aid
officials say it could be: starvation, epidemics and other human suffering
surpassing anything the world has seen in decades.” The Post argues that
the Administration “could have prevented the assault on Hodeida; instead,
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo equivocated, thereby allowing it to go
forward.” The Post urges Congress to halt US “support for the intervention”
and suspend “further arms sales” until “humanitarian assistance flows
freely and peace talks are underway.”

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